Operations, administration, and management (OAM) refers to the processes, tools, standards, etc., involved in operating, administering and maintaining a system. As technologies continue to advance, OAM is becoming a challenging endeavor. For example, Ethernet technology is evolving from a Local Area Network (LAN) platform to one suitable for deployment in a Metropolitan Area Network (MAN) and Wide Area Network (WAN). Unfortunately, OAM functions associated with a traditional Ethernet are deficient and do not translate well into this type of network model. For example, Ethernet-based OAM functions do not include remote monitoring for multiple domains that may exist in disparate geographical locations, such as in a MAN or a WAN.
Various standards (e.g., Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.1ag and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU)-T Y.1731) have emerged to facilitate OAM functionality in these carrier-class Ethernets. In the realm of connectivity fault management (CFM) services, these standards provide for, among other things, fault detection, fault verification, fault isolation, fault notification, and fault recovery, at layer two.
In the IEEE 802.1ag standard, a maintenance association end point (MEP) corresponds to a CFM entity that can generate and receive CFM messages and track responses. Each MEP may be identified by a MEP identifier (MEP ID) that is unique in the layer 2. Existing techniques for MEP ID allocation is an administrative issue and not detailed in the IEEE 802.1ag standard. For example, a network administrator may need to configure the MEP ID for a MEP.